BLINDAGE. A temporary wooden shelter faced with earth, both in siege
works and in fortified places, against splinters of shells and the like.
BLIND-BUCKLERS. Those fitted for the hawse-holes, which have no aperture
for the cable, and therefore used at sea to prevent the water coming in.
BLIND-HARBOUR. One, the entrance of which is so shut in as not readily
to be perceived.
BLIND-ROCK. One lying just under the surface of the water, so as not to
be visible in calms.
BLIND-SHELL. One which, from accident or bad fuze, has fallen without
exploding, or one purposely filled with lead, as at the siege of Cadiz.
Also used at night filled with fuze composition, and enlarged fuze-hole,
to indicate the range.
BLIND-STAKES. A sort of river-weir.
BLINK OF THE ICE. A bright appearance or looming (the iceberg reflected
in the atmosphere above it), often assuming an arched form; so called by
the Greenlanders, and by which reflection they always know when they are
approaching ice long before they see it. In Greenland blink means
iceberg.
BLIRT. A gust of wind and rain.
BLOAT, TO. To dry by smoke; a method latterly applied almost exclusively
to cure herrings or bloaters.--_Bloated_ is also applied to any
half-dried fish.
BLOCCO. Paper and hair used in paying a vessel's bottom.
BLOCK. (In mechanics termed a pulley.) Blocks are flattish oval pieces
of wood, with sheaves in them, for all the running ropes to run in. They
are used for various purposes in a ship, either to increase the
mechanical power of the ropes, or to arrange the ends of them in certain
places on the deck, that they may be readily found when wanted; they are
consequently of various sizes and powers, and obtain various names,
according to their form or situation, thus:--A single block contains
only one sheave or wheel. A double block has two sheaves. A treble or
threefold block, three, and so on. A long-tackle or fiddle-block has two
sheaves--one below the other, like a fiddle. Cistern or sister block for
top-sail lifts and reef tackles. Every block is composed of three, and
generally four, parts:--(1.) The shell, or outside wooden part. (2.) The
sheave, or wheel, on which the rope runs. (3.) The pin, or axle, on
which the sheave turns. (4.) The strop, or part by which the block is
made fast to any particular station, and is usually made either of rope
or of iron. Blocks are named and distinguished by the ropes which they
carry, and the uses they serve for, as bowlines, braces, clue-lines,
halliards, &c. &c. They are either _made_ or _morticed_ (which see).
BLOCK. The large piece of elm out of which the figure is carved at the
head of the ship.
BLOCKADE. The investment of a town or fortress by sea and land; shutting
up all the avenues, so that it can receive no relief.--_To blockade a
port_ is to prevent any communication therewith by sea, and cut off
supplies, in order to compel a surrender when the provisions and
ammunition are exhausted.--_To raise a blockade_ is to discontinue
it.--Blockade is violated by egress as well as by ingress. Warning on
the spot is sufficient notice of a blockade _de facto_. Declaration is
useless without actual investment. If a ship break a blockade, though
she escape the blockading force, she is, if taken in any part of her
future voyage, captured _in delicto_, and subject to confiscation. The
absence of the blockading force removes liability, and _might_ (in such
cases) overrules _right_.
BLOCK AND BLOCK. The situation of a tackle when the blocks are drawn
close together, so that the mechanical power becomes arrested until the
tackle is again overhauled by drawing the blocks asunder. Synonymous
with chock-a-block.
BLOCKHOUSE. A small work, generally built of logs, to protect adjacent
ports. Blockhouses were primarily constructed in our American colonies,
because they could be immediately built from the heavy timber felled to
clear away the spot, and open the lines of fire. The ends were simply
crossed alternately and pinned. Two such structures, with a space of 6
feet for clay, formed, on an elevated position, a very formidable
casemated work. The slanting overhanging roof furnished excellent cover
in lieu of loop-holes for musketry.
BLOCK-MAKER. A manufacturer of blocks.
BLOCKS. The several transverse pieces or logs of timber, piled in plane,
on which a ship is built, or to place her on for repair: they consist of
solid pieces of oak laid on the ground-ways.
BLOCKS, FIXED. _See_ FIXED BLOCKS.
BLOOD-SUCKERS. Lazy fellows, who, by skulking, throw their proportion of
labour on the shoulders of their shipmates.
BLOODY FLAG. A large red flag.
BLOOM. A peculiar warm blast of wind; a term used in iron-foundries.
BLORE. An old word for a stiff gale.
BLOUT. A northern term for the sudden breaking-up of a storm. Blout has
been misused for blirt.
BLOW. Applied to the breathing of whales and other cetaceans. The
expired air from the lungs being highly charged with moisture, which
condenses at the temperature of the atmosphere, appears like a column of
steam.
BLOW. A gale of wind.
BLOWE. A very old English word for scold or revile, still in use, as
when a man receives a good blowing-up.
BLOW-HOLES. The nostrils of the cetaceans, situated on the highest part
of the head. In the whalebone whales they form two longitudinal slits,
placed side by side. In the porpoises, grampuses, &c., they are united
into a single crescentic opening.
BLOW HOME. The wind does not cease or moderate till it comes past that
place, blowing continuously over the land and sea with equal velocity.
In a naval sense, it does not blow home when a sea-wind is interrupted
by a mountainous range along shore.
BLOWING GREAT GUNS AND SMALL ARMS. Heavy gales; a hurricane.
BLOWING HARD. Said of the wind when it is strong and steady.
BLOWING THE GRAMPUS. Throwing water over a sleeper on watch.
BLOWING WEATHER. A nautical term for a continuance of strong gales.
(_See_ GALE.)
BLOWN COD. A split cod, half dried by exposure to the wind. _Blown_ is
also frequently applied to bloated herrings, when only partly cured.
Also, a cod-fish rises to the surface, and is easily taken, if blown. By
being hauled nearly up, and the hook breaking, it loses the power for
some time of contracting the air-bladder, and thus dies head out of
water.
BLOWN ITSELF OUT. Said of a falling gale of wind.
BLOW OFF, TO. To clear up in the clouds.
BLOW-OFF-PIPE, in a steamer, is a pipe at the foot of each boiler,
communicating with the sea, and furnished with a cock to open and shut
it.--_Blowing-off_ is the act or operation of using the blow-off-pipe to
cleanse a marine steam-engine of its brine deposit; also, to clear the
boilers of water, to lighten a ship if grounded.
BLOW-OUT. Extravagant feasting regardless of consequences.
BLOW OVER, (IT WILL). Said of a gale which is expected to pass away
quickly.
BLOW-PIPE. An engine of offence used by the Araucanians and Borneans,
and with the latter termed _sumpitan_: the poisoned arrow, _sumpit_,
will wound at the distance of 140 or more yards. The arrow is forced
through (like boys' pea-shooters) by the forcible and sudden exertion of
the lungs. A wafer can be hit at 30 yards to a certainty, and small
birds are unerringly stunned at 30 yards by pellets of clay.
BLOW THE GAFF. To reveal a secret; to expose or inform against a person.
BLOW-THROUGH VALVE. A valve admitting steam into the condenser, in order
to clear it of air and water before starting the engine.
BLOW UP, TO. To abuse angrily.
BLOW-VALVE. A valve by which the first vacuum necessary for starting a
steam-engine is produced.
BLUBBER. The layer of fat in whales between the skin and the flesh,
which is flinched or peeled off, and boiled for oil, varying from 10 to
20 inches in thickness. (_See_ SEA-BLUBBER.)
BLUBBER FORKS AND CHOPPERS. The implements with which blubber is "made
off," or cut for stowing away.
BLUBBER-GUY. A large rope stretched from the main to the fore mast head
of whalers, to which the speck-falls are attached for the operation of
flensing.
BLUE. _Till all's blue_: carried to the utmost--a phrase borrowed from
the idea of a vessel making out of port, and getting into blue
water.--_To look blue_, to be surprised, disappointed, or taken aback,
with a countenance expressive of displeasure.
BLUE-JACKETS. The seamen as distinguished from the marines.
BLUE LIGHT. A pyrotechnical preparation for signals by night. Also
called Bengal light.
BLUE-LIGHTISM. Affected sanctimoniousness.
BLUE MOON. An indefinite period.
BLUE-NOSE. A general term for a native of Nova Scotia.
BLUE PETER. The signal for sailing when hoisted at the fore-topmast
head; this well-known flag has a blue ground with a white square in the
centre.
BLUE PIGEON. A nickname for the sounding lead.
BLUE WATER. The open ocean.
BLUFF. An abrupt high land, projecting almost perpendicularly into the
sea, and presenting a bold front, rather rounded than cliffy in outline,
as with the headland.
BLUFF-BOWED. Applied to a vessel that has broad and flat bows--that is,
full and square-formed: the opposite of lean.
BLUFF-HEADED. When a ship has but a small rake forward on, being built
with her stem too straight up.
BLUNDERBUSS. A short fire-arm, with a large bore and wide mouth, to
scatter a number of musket or pistol bullets or slugs.
BLUNK. A sudden squall, or stormy weather.
BLUSTROUS. Stormy: also said of a braggadocio.
BO. Abbreviation of _boy_. A familiar epithet for a comrade, derived
probably from the negro.
BOADNASH. Buckhemshein coins of Barbary.
BOANGA. A Malay piratical vessel, impelled by oars.
BOARD. Certain offices under the control of the executive government,
where the business of any particular department is carried on: as the
Board of Admiralty, the Navy Board, Board of Ordnance, India Board,
Board of Trade, &c. Also, timber sawn to a less thickness than plank:
all broad stuff of under 1-1/2 inch in thickness. (_See_ PLANK.) Also,
the space comprehended between any two places when the ship changes her
course by tacking; or, it is the line over which she runs between tack
and tack when working to windward, or sailing against the direction of
the wind.--_To make a good board._ To sail in a straight line when
close-hauled, without deviating to leeward.--_To make short boards_, is
to tack frequently before the ship has run any great length of way.--_To
make a stern board_, is when by a current, or any other accident, the
vessel comes head to wind, the helm is shifted, and she has fallen back
on the opposite tack, losing what she had gained, instead of having
advanced beyond it. To make a stern board is frequently a very critical
as well as seamanlike operation, as in very close channels. The vessel
is allowed to run up into the wind until she has shot up to the weather
danger; the helm is then shifted, and with all aback forward, she falls
short off on the opposite tack. Such is also achieved at anchor in
club-hauling (which see).--_To board a ship_, is to enter her in a
hostile manner in order to take forcible possession of her, either from
the attacking ship or by armed boats. The word _board_ has various other
applications among seamen:--_To go aboard_ signifies to go into the
ship.--_To slip by the board_, is to slip down a ship's side.--_To board
it up_, is to beat up, sometimes on one tack and sometimes on
another.--_The weather-board_ is the side of the ship which is to
windward.--_By the board_, close to a ship's deck.
BOARD AND BOARD. Alongside, as when two ships touch each other.
BOARDERS. Sailors appointed to make an attack by boarding, or to repel
such attempt from the enemy. Four men selected from each gun were
generally allotted as boarders, also to trim sails, tend pumps, repair
rigging, &c.
BOARD HIM. A colloquialism for I'll ask, demand, or accost him. Hence
Shakspeare makes Polonius say of Hamlet,
"I'll board him presently."
To make acquaintance with; to fasten on.
BOARD HIM IN THE SMOKE. To take a person by surprise, as by firing a
broadside, and boarding in the smoke.
BOARDING. An assault made by one vessel on another, by entering her in
battle with a detachment of armed men.
BOARDING-BOOK. A register which has for its object the recording all
particulars relative to every ship boarded, a copy of which is
transmitted to the admiral under whose orders the ship is employed.
(_See_ GUARD-BOOK.)
BOARDING-NETTINGS. A framework of stout rope-netting placed where
necessary, to obstruct an enemy's boarders.
BOARDING-PIKE. A defensive lance against boarders.
BOARDLINGS. Flippant understrappers of the admiralty and navy-boards.
BOARD OF TRADE. A committee of the Privy Council appointed for the
consideration of commercial matters.
BOAT. A small open vessel, conducted on the water by rowing or sailing.
The construction, machinery, and even the names of boats, are very
different, according to the various purposes for which they are
calculated, and the services on which they are employed. Thus we have
the long-boat and the jolly-boat, life-boat and gun-boat, but they will
appear under their respective appellations.--_A bold boat_, one that
will endure a rough sea well.--_Man the boat_, send the crew in to row
and manage it.
BOATABLE. Water navigable for boats and small river-craft.
BOAT-BUOYS. Means added to increase the buoyancy of life-boats, &c.
BOAT-CHOCKS. Clamps of wood upon which a boat rests when stowed on a
vessel's deck.
BOAT-CLOAK. A mantle for the officer going on duty; when left in the
boat it is in the coxswain's charge.
BOAT-DAVIT. A curved piece of timber with a sheave at its outer end,
which projects over the boat's stern, while the inner end is shipped
into a cleat on each side of the bottom of the boat, for weighing
anchors when needed. (_See_ DAVIT.)
BOAT-FAST. _See_ PAINTER.
BOAT-GEER. A general name for the rigging and furniture of a boat.
BOAT-HIRE. Expenses for the use of shore-boats.
BOAT-HOOK. An iron hook with a straight prong at its hinder part; it is
fixed upon a pole, by the help of which a boat is either pulled to, or
pushed off from, any place, and is capable of holding on by anything.
BOATILA. A narrow-sterned, flat-bottomed boat of the Gulf of Manar.
BOATING. Transporting men, munitions, or goods, in boats.
BOAT-KEEPER. One of the boat's crew who remains in charge of her during
the absence of the others. In small vessels he is sometimes called the
boatman.
BOAT-NAILS. Those supplied for the carpenter's use are of various
lengths, generally rose-headed, square at the points, and made both of
copper and iron. (_See_ NAILS.)
BOAT-ROPE. A separate rope veered to the boat to be towed at the ship's
stern.
BOAT'S CREW. The men appointed as the crew of any particular boat, as
the barge's crew, cutter's crew, &c.